Ken Kantzer describes his theory about why a project wanes after an
initial period of high productivity. He claims that the productivity
decrease occurs when the easy tasks (relative to your skillset) are
completed and only difficult tasks remain. He further claims that
“creative destruction” - delegating or eliminating the task is a way to
unblock your task queue.
Takeaways
It’s important to recognize that a significant portion of a
productivity shift can be explained by the character of tasks in the
phase of the project. Early phase tasks have a totally different
character than late phase tasks. A percieved productivity shift is not
necessarily due to the competence of the people working on a
project.
I learned about the Peter
Principle, which claims that a competent person is promoted until
they reach a job at which they are incompetent. There they remain.
“Creative destruction” doesn’t seem like particularly useful advice.
Either you can eliminate your task (and it’s therefore not important) or
you delegate it. If someone else solves your problem, then it’s not
really your problem, is it?